Based on the novel by Avery Corman (who also penned Kramer vs. Kramer), Oh, God! was adapted by screenwriter Larry Gelbert with Mel Brooks and Woody Allen in mind as the title character and his lackluster modern prophet, respectively. Eventually, folk singer John Denver got the role of assistant supermarket manager Jerry Landers with legendary comedian George Burns playing The Almighty. A slate of well-known actors bolstered the cast, including Young Frankenstein minx Teri Garr, Halloween psychiatrist Donald Pleasance, Rosemary’s obstetrician Ralph Bellamy, Goodfella Paul Sorvino, and relative newcomer David Ogden Stires, who would go on to memorable roles in MASH and Beauty and the Beast.

Jerry Landers is just an ordinary guy working an ordinary job one ordinary day when God appears to him as a harmless old man. Having decided that he would like to let the world know that everything will be okay, God has chosen Jerry to deliver the message for him, not unlike Moses back in the day. Jerry is skeptical at first, but after God causes it to rain in his car (“why ruin everyone else’s day?”) Jerry believes and delivers the message.

Suddenly Jerry’s life becomes a circus as all kinds of believers congregate outside his house in order to receive blessings from him. Of course, the larger population believes it all to be a fraud, including religious and political leaders throughout the community and nation. But when Jerry’s life goes downhill, he sets out to prove himself in a court of law where he calls as his key witness, none other than God himself.

A modest comedy in its own right, Oh God would result in two George Burns-starring sequels (Oh God! Book II in 1980 and Oh, God! You Devil in 1984), and a remake tentatively planned for 2007 starring comedian Ellen DeGeneres. The original film influenced later man-meets-deity comedies, including Bruce Almighty and its sequel, Evan Almighty.